To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many organisations in the Birmingham, Erdington constituency have (a) applied for and (b) claimed awards from the Community Fund in each year since the National Lottery began. [112992]

Comprehensive information on applications for Lottery grants is not centrally held at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.The following table, which is based upon information supplied to us by the distributing bodies for the National Lottery awards database, shows the total number of awards made by the Community Fund to applicants within the constituency of Birmingham, Erdington.

	Number of awards within the constituency of Birmingham, Erdington
1 May 1994 to 30 April 1995	0
1 May 1995 to 30 April 1996	3
1 May 1996 to 30 April 1997	2
1 May 1997 to 30 April 1998	2
1 May 1998 to 30 April 1999	6
1 May 1999 to 30 April 2000	12
1 May 2000 to 30 April 2001	5
1 May 2001 to 30 April 2002	4
1 May 2002 to 30 April 2003	0

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans are in place to strengthen local advertising campaigns in order to encourage more successful applications for National Lottery funding, with particular reference to regions where there is a record of failing to secure them. [113000]

The consultation paper on Lottery distribution (published July 2002) sought views on a number of issues, including raising awareness of Lottery funding and application mechanisms. Ideas included a National Lottery Day, One Stop Shops, to provide a single point of access for advice and a single promotional body, which would raise awareness of the achievements of the Lottery nationally, regionally and locally.Proposals from the review will be published in the summer.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list (a) the average grant given for all constituencies, (b) the average grant given for West Midlands constituencies and (c) the average grant given for Birmingham, Erdington under the National Lottery Awards For All scheme in each of the last three years for which statistics are held. [113001]

The following table, which is based upon information supplied to us by the distributing bodies for the National Lottery awards database, sets out the average grant given for all constituencies, the average grant for West Midlands constituencies¹ and the average award to Birmingham, Erdington under the National Lottery Awards For All scheme in each of the last three years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department gives to sporting activities for the young outside of the formal school environment. [113018]

This Department is committed to increasing and improving opportunities for young people to participate in sporting activities both within and beyond the curriculum. Initiatives beyond the curriculum include: the Community Club Development programme (£60 million); the New Opportunities Fund's Out of School Hours Learning/School Sport Co-ordinators programme (over £19 million); the School to Club Links programme (£9 million) and Step into Sport (£15 million). These complement or directly support delivery of the joint DCMS/DfES national strategy for PE, school sport and club links, in which we are investing a total of £459 million over the next three years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many claims for lost driving licences the DVLA has received in each of the last five years. [113035]

An application for a duplicate driving licence is appropriate where licences have been lost, stolen or defaced after being held by the driver for a certain length of time. From the statistics available it is not possible to state specifically how many applications are for lost licences only. However, during the past five years applications for duplicate driving licences have been.

	Number
1998–99	661,000
1999–2000	467,000
2000–01	510,000
2001–02	584,000
2002–03	700,000

DVLA does not meet claims for lost licences.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria the Strategic Rail Authority used in deciding to award the Greater Anglia Franchise to the successful bidder; and what representations he received on that decision. [113096]

The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has not yet awarded the Greater Anglia franchise. It issued Invitations to Tender (ITTs) to three bidders—and a consultation document to stakeholders—on 15 April. That followed a process of "Qualification to receive an ITT document", in which applicants were ranked on their responses to a questionnaire.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on the reopening of (a) the Matlock to Buxton railway line and (b) the Bletchley to Bicester line. [113199]

The Strategic Rail Authority is currently undertaking a feasibility study on the proposal to re-open the Matlock to Buxton line. The study is expected to be completed in two stages. The first stage will look at options to re-instate the link that formerly existed. This is expected to be completed in September 2003. If the partners agree to continue, stage two would develop the preferred option in detail. Stage two will be completed in April 2004. The Strategic Rail Authority is also currently examining the case for reopening the section of line between Bicester and Bletchley for freight and diversionary purposes. This would potentially enable the introduction of passenger services on the eastern section of the route. For these projects to be taken forward, they would have to represent value for money and be affordable.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to address the issue of age discrimination. [109440]

The Home Office has continued to integrate age into its equal opportunity policies and to apply its commitments that there should be no unfair discrimination on the basis of age and that staff of all ages and backgrounds should be provided with opportunities to maximise their skills and achieve their potential. Action on diversity will continue to tackle any negative attitudes towards older staff, particularly through the training and development of managers and through the monitoring of recruitment, selection and appraisal statistics.Since 1 April 2002, following a review of the Department's age retirement policy, Home Office staff in all grades below the Senior Civil Service have been allowed to retire at any point between the ages of 60 and 65. From the same date, the Home Office changed its recruitment policy to allow the recruitment of staff up to the age of 64 subject to their meeting normal standards of health and provided that there is an expectation of a reasonable period of employment and return on recruitment and training.The Prison Service is carrying out a separate review of its age retirement policy. However, on 16 December 2002 a temporary relaxation of its policy was issued, applicable to all non-operational staff below the Senior Civil Service, effective until 1 July 2004. This allows staff covered by the policy to apply for an extension of service beyond 60, subject to health and efficiency considerations.In making these various changes, the Home Office has been implementing recommendations of the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) report 'Winning the Generation Game'.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been detained under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001; how many people are detained; and how many of those currently detained are Muslims. [112931]

[holding answer 13 May 2003]: 15 foreign nationals have so far been detained using powers in part 4 of the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. Eight were detained in December 2001, one in February 2002, two in April 2002, one in October 2002, one in November 2002, and a further two in January 2003.Of the total detained, two have voluntarily left the United Kingdom. The other 13 remain in detention.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) set-up and (b) running costs are of his Department's anti-terrorism website. [109512]

The anti-terrorism site (www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism) is a part of the core Home Office website and the running costs are met from the existing budget for running the main website. Costs directly associated with setting up these pages are:

1. Copy-writing services: £3,150

2. Template design: £1,410

The site had 275,000 page impressions during March and April. A service guaranteeing resilience of the servers in the event of increased traffic or security breaches was also procured at a cost of £30,000 per annum. Although this has been put in place to protect the site as a whole in accordance with security requirements, its implementation was timed to tie in with the launch of the anti-terrorism site in order to ensure that the site would cope with the large volume of traffic.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many antisocial Behaviour Orders are in force; [111774](2) how many breaches there have been of antisocial Behaviour Orders. [111773]

From 1 April 1999 to 31 May 2000 data on the number of antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) issued was collected by police force area. From 1 June 2000 official statistics on the number of ASBOs issued are based on quarterly returns from Magistrates' Courts Committees (MCCs).Available information shows the number of notifications received by the Home Office of ASBOs issued from 1 April 1999 up to 31 December 2001 was 532. The number of notifications received from 1 January 2002 up to 30 November 2002 (latest available) was 253. Data are not collected centrally on the number of ASBOs in force at any given time.We are aware that the number of ASBOs made nationally have been consistently under-reported in returns made by magistrates courts and are considering how reporting can be improved. 66 persons had breaches of their ASBOs proved to the satisfaction of the court and notified to the Home Office in 2000 and a further 258 in 2001 (persons breaching an ASBO more than once and dealt with on separate occasions will be counted more than once in these figures).However, as the number of ASBOs made is known to be under-reported and breaches of ASBOs count persons every time they appear in court, these figures cannot be used to calculate a breach rate. For this reason a special exercise was undertaken, covering the period 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2001, to match persons convicted of breaching their ASBOs on at least one occasion (as notified by the police and the courts) with ASBOs made (as notified by the MCC). This showed that during this period 125 persons had breached their ASBOs out of 428 for whom ASBOs had been made and notified to the Home Office, a breach rate of 20 per cent.Statistics on breaches of ASBOs in 2002 will be published in the autumn.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other EU countries in relation to improving joint contingency planning and cooperation in the event of civil emergencies. [109604]

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Hereford (Paul Keetch) on 24 March 2003, Official Report, column 24W.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 23 April from the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey regarding extradition arrangements with the United States. [112864]

[holding answer 13 May 2003]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 12 May.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many demonstrators have been charged with (a) conspiracy to commit a criminal act and (b) a criminal act in each of the last 18 months. [112161]

The information requested is not collected centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with his US counterparts on (a) terrorism and (b) extradition since 1 January. [112136]

I and my officials are in constant contact with our US counterparts on terrorism and extradition issues, where there is excellent co-operation between us.I visited the US in late March and early April when I met the US Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge. We agreed to build further on US/UK co-operation by setting up a Joint Contact Group of senior officials to drive a joint programme of work in the fight against terrorism.I also discussed extradition with the US Attorney General John Ashcroft in Washington DC, and signed a new UK/US bilateral extradition Treaty on 31 March. I met John Ashcroft, together with other Ministers again in Paris for the G8 meeting on Justice and Home Affairs on 5 May at which common action to improve arrangements for identification was agreed.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans there are to increase spending on the advertising and promotion of the firearms amnesty; how much has been allocated for the year April 2003 to March 2004; which the preferred medium is in which to promote the campaign; and on what basis he has reached this decision. [111256]

Police force area	1997	1998–991	1999–20002	2000–012	2001–022
Avon and Somerset	240	241	429	365	411
Bedfordshire	56	149	177	140	182
Cambridgeshire	134	141	186	146	195
Cheshire	70	97	72	167	177
Cleveland	144	245	199	203	267
Cumbria	54	33	34	29	34
Derbyshire	280	322	451	398	461
Devon and Cornwall	94	144	140	111	138
Dorset	78	42	123	153	174
Durham	65	25	53	116	163
Essex	269	317	344	356	546
Gloucestershire	87	116	158	179	188
Greater Manchester	888	1,143	1,372	1,513	2,175
Hampshire	157	147	215	163	175
Hertfordshire	56	61	164	217	224
Humberside	535	563	543	502	473
Kent	364	277	340	335	269
Lancashire	163	179	227	233	343
Leicestershire	106	185	137	119	146
Lincolnshire	92	80	141	152	153
London, City of	4	15	6	5
Merseyside	576	856	914	1,041	1,211
Metropolitan Police	2,926	3,004	4,118	4,258	5,675
Norfolk	75	59	56	57	68
Northamptonshire	130	191	177	78	98
Northumbria	277	457	531	472	541
North Yorkshire	131	74	59	47	70
Nottinghamshire	532	629	713	693	870
South Yorkshire	328	401	369	448	737
Staffordshire	241	123	184	321	386
Suffolk	17	34	69	136	118
Surrey	59	66	92	129	107
Sussex	218	315	377	326	404
Thames Valley	325	471	555	609	703
Warwickshire	86	56	69	73	102
West Mercia	84	105	114	111	177
West Midlands	840	808	1,008	1,058	1,636
West Yorkshire	974	1,041	1,235	1,544	1,759
Wiltshire	61	85	84	79	98
Dyfed-Powys	61	60	45	68	43
Gwent	129	215	248	197	176
North Wales	109	94	104	74	99
South Wales	295	222	315	275	337
England total	11,816	13,283	16,234	17,083	21,659
1 There was a change of counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which would have the tendency to increase the number of offences counted. Numbers of offences before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.
2 Figures may have been inflated by some forces implementing the priciples of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) before 1 April 2002.

The firearms amnesty ran from 31 March to 30 April 2003. It was agreed after the success of the first burst of advertising at the beginning of the amnesty to repeat the radio advertising in the last week and an additional £122,000 was spent in April 2003 to achieve this.There are currently no plans to run another amnesty in the coming year and therefore no additional money has been allocated for advertising and promotion. Over 40,000 guns where handed in during the period.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) gun crimes and (b) arrests relating to gun crime there were (i) in England and (ii) in each UK police force area in each of the last five years. [112721]

Information on the number of recorded crimes involving firearms, including air weapons, is given in the table.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Croydon South (Richard Ottaway), of 12 December 2003, Official Report, column 480W, on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, how many letters were sent to members of the public where a passport could not be traced in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999 and (d) to date in 2003. [112148]

The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the Integrated Casework Directorate's (ICD) Return of Passport Unit, which was set up in October 1999, issued 97 lost passport letters in the year 2000, 103 in 2001, 390 in 2002 and 251 so far this calendar year.I have already now instituted new measures to ensure that in future

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences involving (a) drugs, (b) alcohol abuse, (c) violence and (d) disorder were reported in each command or division of the Northumbria police area in each year from 1998 to 2002. [113073]

Information on the total number of recorded crimes in some main offence groups, including violent crimes, has been collected and published at the Basic Command Unit level since 1 April 1999. The number of violent crimes recorded in Basic Command Units in the Northumbria police area is given in the table. Details for 2002/03 are not yet available.

Number of violent offences recorded by the police in Northumbria police force area by police Basic Command Unit
	Violence against the person
	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
Gateshead East	1,156	989	1,787
Gateshead West	667	668	666
Newcastle Central	1,077	908	999
Newcastle East	778	639	709
Newcastle North	776	720	842
Newcastle West	948	1,052	1,224
North Northumberland	430	339	325
South Tyneside	1,282	1,483	1,687
South-East Northumberland	1,324	1,499	1,493
South-West Northumberland	398	313	429
Sunderland City	1,643	1,574	2,292
Sunderland West	642	646	827
Tynemouth	890	810	954
Wallsend	600	450	475
Washington	952	872	928

Number of violent offences recorded by the police in Northumbrian police force area by police Basic Command Unit
	Sexual Offences
	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
Gateshead East	97	79	123
Gateshead West	55	36	61
Newcastle Central	58	43	40
Newcastle East	52	52	58
Newcastle North	67	74	88
Newcastle West	89	60	90
North Northumberland	17	23	19
South Tyneside	83	98	103
South-East Northumberland	131	113	113
South-West Northumberland	20	13	7
Sunder City	78	68	76
Sunderland West	54	44	42
Tynemouth	59	53	96
Wallsend	68	79	60
Washington	55	56	54

Number of violent offences recorded by the police in Northumbrian police force area by police Basic Command Unit
	Robbery
	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
Gateshead East	153	152	177
Gateshead West	80	94	81
Newcastle Central	140	114	96
Newcastle East	85	87	74
Newcastle North	101	93	109
Newcastle West	152	138	146
North Northumberland	5	1	10
South Tyneside	154	168	129
South-East Northumberland	55	80	72
South-West Northumberland	4	4	11
Sunderland City	163	169	196
Sunderland West	43	48	53
Tynemouth	118	102	92
Wallsend	74	74	67
Washington	62	57	74

Recorded crime figures do not include details of whether drugs and alcohol are an aggravating factor in offences. The requested details of drug offences, alcohol abuse and disorder are not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to (a) change the composition of asylum applicants housed at the Immigration Reception centre, Oakington and (b)increase the maximum length of stay of residents. [112424]

The Oakington fast track facility enables asylum claims which, upon initial screening, appear to be straightforward and suitable for speedy decision making, to be determined in about seven to 10 days. If the decision is to refuse, the claimant may be removed, moved to a Removal Centre or released temporarily.There are no plans at present to alter this. Our aim at Oakington is to fast track claims as rapidly as possible. In some instances it may be considered necessary to detain at Oakington beyond the decision stage, non-suspensive appeal (NSA) cases where Judicial Review of a 'clearly unfounded' certificate is sought for example. It is not our intention to detain at Oakington any longer than is necessary.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many residents are housed at the Immigration Reception Centre, Oakington; and from which countries. [112427]

On 12 May 2003 there was a total of 302 persons detained at Oakington. They were from the following countries: (listed in order of the highest number): Turkey, Jamaica, Serbia and Montenegro, India, Albania, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Moldova, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Nigeria, Ukraine, Cameroon, China, Uganda, Latvia, Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda, Macedonia, Brazil, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Cyprus and Bulgaria.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training police officers receive in how to deal with victims of (a) child abuse and (b) rape; and whether there is an officer at every police station who has received this training. [112106]

There is currently no national training for police officers on dealing with victims of child abuse and rape. Individual forces are responsible for determining the training required by their officers.Centrex (the Central Police Training and Development Authority) is reviewing the training needed by police officers in relation to the investigation of sexual offences in the light of recommendations made in the report of a joint inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate. The review will result in a new learning requirement which will defile what officers need to learn and the standards to which they should be trained and will be aligned with the National Occupational Standards for the police service.The Home Office, together with the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Police Skills and Standards Organisation, Centrex and others, is considering how to take forward the recommendations of Lord Laming in the report of his inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. The Government are committed to implementing Lord Laming's recommendations, which included several concerning the training of police and other practitioners involved in child protection work.The deployment of officers following training is entirely a matter for the chief officer of the force concerned.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the costs were of policing the annual party political conferences in 2002; and how these costs were met. [111163]

Information is only available about the additional costs for policing at the Labour Party and Conservative Party's annual conferences. The additional cost of policing the Labour Party conference in Blackpool in 2002 was £1.52 million. The additional cost for policing the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth last year was £0.89 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support her Department is providing to indigenous and inward investing supplier companies to (a) locate and (b) expand their business in the United Kingdom. [113023]

Invest. UK in London and overseas promotes the UK as the top inward investment location in Europe and works in partnership with all of the UK's Development Agencies to attract the maximum level of inward investment. Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is available to indigenous and international inward investors located, or planning to locate, within the UKs assisted areas. RSA provides grants to help support business expansion and create and safeguard jobs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many representations she has received on the future of Concorde since January. [112911]

Twenty one. The Department's Aerospace and Defence Directorate has received six further representations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will introduce legislation preventing door-to-door salespeople calling on households unannounced. [113402]

The Office of Fair Trading is currently investigating the doorstep selling sector as a super complaint within the terms of the Enterprise Act 2002. Their report is expected later this year. Any recommendations will be carefully considered.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what standard and open export licences were granted in respect of spare parts for Hawk aircraft in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002 and for which countries; what risk assessments were made to determine the risk of these exports being diverted or re-exported in contravention of arms export licensing criteria; and if she will make a statement. [112329]

Details of these were given in response to the question from the hon. Member for Crawley (Laura Moffatt) on 26 October 2000, Official Report, columns 199–203, and in my letter dated 14 November to the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Paul Farrelly), a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers she has to prevent two master franchises within the same trading scheme in the United Kingdom from using coercive attempts to press their franchisees with registering for VAT as a means of the master franchises obtaining an exemption under the provisions of the Trading Schemes Act 1996; and if she will make a statement. [113009]

There are no such powers under the Trading Schemes Act. Registration for VAT is a matter for Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what help she will give to Regional Development Agencies in England to increase inward investment. [112954]

As part of the RDAs 'Single Pot' funding in 2003–04, Invest.UK are providing £12.93 million.Invest.UK plan to spend at least £7.2 million in 2003–04 to promote the UK to potential inward investors world-wide. Enquiries generated through this national promotional campaign play a pivotal role in supporting RDAs cluster development activities, helping RDAs deliver their regional economic strategies, and increasing inward investment to their regions.Invest.UK has also led the development of a bespoke 'best practice' modular training package for the RDAs to assist them to increase the quality of their 'aftercare' service to inward investors.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the

Regional Development Agency	12001–02	12002–03	22003–04
Advantage West Midlands	170,850	205,156	216,026
East of England Development Agency	62,596	89,413	81,299
East Midlands Development Agency	97,439	102,892	127,211
North West Development Agency	276,872	274,855	318,478
One North East	162,671	193,828	219,256
South East of England Development Agency	110,542	115,034	123,952
South West of England Regional Development Agency	91,940	101,958	101,061
Yorkshire Forward	246,267	210,274	243,287
London Development Agency	289,141	296,059	291,239
Total	1,508,318	1,589,469	1,721,809
1 Budgets are net of receipts forecast to be generated by the Agencies and include changes approved during the financial year in respect of End Year Flexibility entitlement, claims on the Contigency Reserve and budget swaps between Agencies.
2 Indicative allovations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which schemes in the United Kingdom which have two master franchises benefit from the single-tier exemption from the Trading Schemes Act 1996. [113046]

Information on individual schemes exempt from the Act is not held centrally.

The Government made an interim response to the OFT's report on control of entry regulations for pharmacies on 26 March. The Government is considering the report and its recommendation further and will come forward with a balanced package of measures for consultation before the summer recess.The regulations on pharmacy entry controls are devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the devolved administrations announced their responses to the OFT's recommendations on 26 March.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about sharp practices involving leasing agreements for office photocopiers; and if she will take steps to afford greater protection to consumers affected by such practices. [113174]

The Office of Fair Trading is responsible for monitoring the behaviour of consumer hire companies licensed under the Consumer Credit Act and it has confirmed that few complaints have been received. No action is proposed at this time.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list funding allocated (a) to each regional development agency, (b) to the London Development Agency and (c) in total in (i) 2001–02, (ii) 2002–03 and (iii) 2003–04 (estimated). [113207]

Budget allocations, in £000s, to the Regional Development Agencies, including the London Development Agency, for 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 are given in the following table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what after-school activities are available in the London borough of Redbridge. [111740]

Redbridge receives funding from my Department to provide after school study support opportunities for young people in the area: £284,859 this year through the Standards fund. We allow individual schools and local authorities the freedom to decide which activities best meet local needs. Study support can range from homework and study clubs to special-interest activities including the creative arts and ICT, and many of these take place after school.Redbridge has also received two grants totalling £527,050 through the New Opportunities fund to provide out of school hours activities. The first grant targets approximately 10 schools in the Hainault and Loxford areas and the second has introduced activities into more than 15 other schools in the borough. Many of these activities take place after school, and include a Bollywood Dance Club, girls' football, and a zoology club.Redbridge has, in addition, been awarded £795,343 by the New Opportunities fund for after-school childcare to date, and is on course to meet its DfES target of 1,387 places to be created before June 2003. It has also received an extra capital allocation of £22,000.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) nurseries, (b) playgroups, (c) child minders, (d) out-of-school clubs and (e) holiday schemes have been provided in Lancashire in each year since 1997. [112057]

The available information for Lancashire Local Authority is shown in the tables.Figures for 2001 and earlier years for England and Government Office regions were published in DfES Statistical Bulletin 08/01 "Children's Day Care Facilities at 31st March 2001", which is available in the Library and on the DfES website, www.dfes.qov.uk/statistics. Figures for 2001 for out of school clubs and holiday schemes have recently been revised and are shown in the tables.

Numbers of day care providers1 by type of provider Lancashire Local Authority area 1999–2001 Position at 31 March each year
	1999	2000	2001
Day nurseries	230	240	270
Playgroups and pre-schools	290	290	280
Childminders	1,500	1,400	1,400
Out of school clubs	70	80	90
Holiday schemes	30	220	20
1Figures have been rounded
2Includes those schemes exempt from registration

Numbers of day care places1 by type of provider Lancashire Local Authority area 1999–2001 Position at 31 March each year
	1999	2000	2001
Day nurseries	8,800	9,600	10,900
Playgroups and pre-schools	6,600	6,600	6,500
Childminders	6,000	5,800	5,900
Out of school clubs	1,600	1,900	2,200
Holiday schemes	900	2670	640
1Figures have been rounded
2Includes those schemes exempt from registration

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make it his policy to bring funding per pupil in Worcestershire closer to the national average. [112661]

In introducing the new funding system in 2003–04, our aim has been to produce the best possible match between the distribution of funds and the differing circumstances and needs of pupils, schools and Local Education Authorities. It is our policy to ensure that the funding each authority receives reflects the needs of its pupils, and the cost of providing an education service.The new funding system comprises of a basic entitlement per pupil—the same everywhere, and a top ups for each pupil with additional educational needs—again the same everywhere. There are also top ups to reflect the higher costs of recruiting and retaining staff in some areas, and the higher costs of providing an education service in sparse areas. The top up for additional educational needs was informed by research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers into the costs of providing for pupils with additional needs. The top ups for area costs are based on earning differentials from the labour force survey.These top ups mean that there are differences in what individual authorities receive. Those which have more deprived pupils and/or receive extra funding to take account of the high costs of recruiting and retaining staff in their area, receive a higher level of funding overall than those which have comparatively low levels of deprivation and/or do not receive additional funding for area costs.All LEAs have seen an increase in their Education Formula Spending Share of at least 3.2 per cent. per pupil in 2003–04, in addition to compensation for the bulk of the pension contribution increase and the transfer into EPS of nursery grant and class size grant. The increase for Worcestershire is somewhat more substantial at 4.1 per cent. This translates into an increase in Worcestershire's Education Formula Spending Share of 6.0 per cent. when pupil number changes are taken into account.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of lessons inspected by Ofsted in 2001–02 in (a) Year 7, (b) Year 8, (c) Year 9 and (d) Year 10 were set by ability in (i) specialist and (ii) non-specialist comprehensives. [113074]

This is a matter for Ofsted and HM Chief Inspector, David Bell, will write to the hon. Member and will place a copy of his letter in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received about the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations. [111735]

We have received no representations about these regulations, which were made on 18 February 2003. However, some enquirers have sought and received clarification on some of the issues.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many children have been statemented in Shropshire in each of the last 10 years; [111662](2) how many children with statements of special educational needs in Shropshire were taught in

The available information is shown in the table.

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs (SEN): Shropshire local education authority
	Pupils with statements of SEN
January	Total number of pupils	Number of pupils in maintained special schools	Number of pupils in other maintained schools1	Number of pupils in all other schools2
19943	2,288	504	1,609	175
19953	2,449	525	1,760	164
19963	2,662	578	1,927	157
19973	2,844	590	2,059	195
19983	2,906	610	2,139	157
19994	1,679	191	1,352	136
20004	1,667	190	1,327	150
20014	—5	—5	—5	—5
20024	1,501	206	1,132	163
20034	—	—	—	—
(Provisional)	1,462	216	1,091	155
1 Includes Maintained Nursery, Primary and Secondary Schools and Pupil Referral Units.
2 Includes independent schools, non-maintained special schools and City Technology Colleges.
3 Before local government reorganisation. Prior to 1999 Shropshire included Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin.
4 After local government reorganisation. Figures from 1999 onwards are not directly comparable to those for earlier years.
5Not available. SEN data for 2001 are known to be incomplete.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to reduce his Department's underspend in 2003–04 from that of 2002–03. [112779]

The Chancellor's Departments are currently estimating an underspend of £34 million in 2002–03. This is less than 1 per cent. of total provision. The spending plans for the Chancellor's Departments are set out in: "2002 Spending Review—New Public Spending Plans 2003–2006" (Ref: Cm 5570. Published July 2002).

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of the publication of the 2001 Departmental Report. [112799]

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Berwick-Upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) on 24 July 2002, Official Report, column 1192W. The final cost of the Departmental Report 2001–02 was £4,912.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to seek changes to the European Stability and Growth Pact prior to any future UK entry into the euro. [113115]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes) on 23 January 2003, Official Report, column 424W.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list (a) the title and subject, (b) the total cost to his Department and (c) the commissioned author or organisation of each external report commissioned by his Department in each year since 1997. [103726]

Since 1997 HM Treasury has on its own or in collaboration with other Departments commissioned people external to the Department to prepare reports.The completed reports on which the Treasury took a lead include:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has allocated to tackling illegal food imports in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02, (c) 2002–03, (d) 2003–04, (e) 2004–05 and (f) 2005–06, broken down by category of activity. [112559]

[holding answer 13 May 2003]: The Government are investing £25 million for the years 2003–06 to tackle illegal imports of meat, other animal products, plants and plant products. Of the £6 million allocated for 2003–04 Customs will receive £4m. This will help to fund:

Four new mobile anti-smuggling teams

An expansion of the detector dog programme from 2 to 6 Extra intelligence activity

A publicity campaign at ports and airports in the UK and overseas

The distribution of funding for the years 2004–05 and 2005–06 is the subject of negotiation between Defra, the Food Standards Agency and Customs.In previous years the lead enforcement authorities for tackling these illegal imports were Defra, Port Health Authorities and Local Authorities. Customs was not therefore in receipt of any funding for this activity.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department's (a) total managed expenditure, (b) total spending on Information Technology and (c) spending on Information Technology as a proportion of its total managed expenditure has been in each financial year since 1997. [107093]

The contribution by HM Treasury to Total Managed Expenditure can be measured by the total of spending under resource and capital budgets, less non-cash items in AME. Data for 1989–99 to 2001–02 were published in the 2002 Departmental Report. New estimates will be published in the same table in the 2003 Departmental Report, in May 2003.Spending in each year on Information Technology is set out in the table below, showing separately administration costs (including licences, software maintenance, repairs, and hire of IT equipment) and capital costs (including purchases and the capitalisation if IT consultancy costs).

Year	IT administration costs (£m)	IT capital costs (£m)
1997–98	1.74	1.77
1998–99	2.07	2.63
1999–2000	1.24	2.95
2000–01	1.58	2.79
2001-02	1.30	3.66
2002–03	2.31	3.09

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to reduce floating-rate debt in the UK mortgage market. [113114]

The Chancellor announced in the Budget that he has commissioned Professor David Miles to undertake a review of the supply and demand factors limiting the development of the fixed-rate mortgage market in the UK.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on plans to change the level of duty on liquefied petroleum gas fuel. [112718]

Duty rates for all fuels, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), are reviewed annually as part of the Budget process. In Budget 2001 the Government announced that duty on all road fuel gases would be frozen in real terms until at least 2004.Budget 2003 has announced that duty on all road fuel gases, including LPG, has been frozen at 9 pence per kilogramme, and that the Government will consult stakeholders on how best to ensure that future support for road fuel gases continues to reflect its environmental and other policy objectives. This consultation will be carried out in the next few months jointly by HM Treasury, HM Customs and Excise and the Department for Transport.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to insert a fair wages clause into contracts, including PFI contracts between government and private companies entitling agency staff to the same pay and conditions as directly employed public sector employees. [112808]

All staff transferring from the public to the private sector are protected by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employees) Act. This requires that all staff contracts, with the new employer, contain identical terms and conditions to those in the original public sector contracts, with the sole exception of terms relating to membership of occupational pension schemes. The Local Authority Best Value code of practice and the Scottish Executive protocol, entitle new joiners to outsourced work forces to be offered "fair and reasonable" terms and conditions that are "overall, no less favourable" than those available to transferees.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who the chief executive officer of the Treasury Solicitor's Department is. [112709]

I have been asked to reply.The Chief Executive of the Treasury Solicitor's Department is Juliet Wheldon CB QC, HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has placed a copy of the most recently published annual report into the sale of antibiotics for use in animals in the UK in the Library; and what period that report covered. [112406]

On 10 April 2003 the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) published the fourth in a series of reports designed to provide information about the sales of veterinary antimicrobial products in the UK. This covered sales of these products in the calendar year 2001. This report, entitled "Sales of Antimicrobial Products Authorised for Use as Veterinary Medicines, Growth Promoters, Coccidiostats and Antiprotozoals in the UK in 2001" is available on the VMD's website (www.vmd.qov.uk). Copies of this report were place in the Library of the House on 1 May 2003.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations and discussions she has had with (a) small abattoirs, (b) slaughterhouses and (c) independent butchers regarding the Animal By-Products Regulation. [111111]

The Department has undertaken extensive consultation during the negotiations on the Animal By-Products Regulation. This has included discussions with representatives of the abattoir and butchery industries.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she is taking to (a) maintain and (b) encourage the development of new (i) small abattoirs, (ii) slaughterhouses and (iii) butchers under the Animal By-Products Regulation. [111119]

The purpose of the Animal By-Products Regulation is to ensure that animal by-products are used or disposed of safely. The Department has, however, taken steps where possible to minimise the impact on these industries. We are encouraging our regional partners to deploy the schemes within the England Rural Development Programme to support the network of small and medium abattoirs where a regional need is identified.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 22W, on Animal By-Products Regulations, for what reason remainders of wild animal carcases which have been used to produce game trophies are not exempt from the scope of the regulation. [111395]

These controls are in place to maintain existing controls on the trade and import of game trophies under the Balai Directive (92/118/EEC).

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the level of cetacean by-catch within the UK 200-mile limit in the last 12 months. [112496]

Since 2000 the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), under contract to Defra, has carried out a number of surveys to estimate the level of by-catch in UK fisheries. These surveys recorded for the offshore bass fishery 53 common dolphins caught in 116 hauls in 2001 and eight common dolphins caught in 66 hauls in 2002. However, by-catch information from other member states whose vessels operate in this fishery and elsewhere in UK waters is not available so it is not possible to produce reliable estimates of dolphin by-catch deaths in within the UK 200-mile limit. It is for this reason that I have been pressing the Commission for urgent action to widen observer coverage of EU fisheries and to bring forward proposals for positive action to reduce by-catch.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what performance incentive schemes exist for civil servants in her Department. [112452]

Currently three schemes operate within Defra.

i) In February this year a Special Bonus Scheme, applicable to individuals and teams, was introduced to recognise special achievement and contributions beyond normal job requirements. Payments are one-off and not consolidated.

ii) Staff who, in their appraisal for the period 2003–04, are recognised as consistently exceeding performance requirements will receive one off non-consolidated bonuses in 2004.

iii) In accordance with senior Civil Service pay arrangements which are not delegated to Departments, all Senior Civil service pay in Defra is performance related including the rate of progression through the pay range. Under these centralised arrangements, Defra is also able to award non-consolidated performance bonuses for delivery of key priorities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate is of the expenditure of her Department on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in 2002. [106297]

The Department's expenditure on newspapers, periodicals and magazines in the financial year 2002–2003 was £91,095. This figure covers central purchasing through Defra's library services. This excludes the cost of newspapers, periodicals and magazines purchased in Defra local offices and in the Department's Executive Agencies. These figures could only be compiled at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to relocate parts of her Department to the West Country. [110998]

I refer the hon. Member to my reply given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West (Joyce Quin) on 8 May 2003, Official Report, columns 786–87W.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many UK fishing vessels there were (a) under 10 metres and (b) over 10 metres, in each year since 1973; what proportion were blue water vessels; and what proportion were foreign-owned. [112498]

The information requested, where readily available, is given in the following tables. The blue water fleet has been taken as those UK fishing vessels greater than 10 metres overall length.Vessel data for 1 January 1973 to 1 January 1990 are available only in terms of under and over 40 foot in length (12.2 metres) and relate to the active rather than the registered UK fishing fleet. The statistics for these years also understate the overall size of the fleet: the registered fleet exceeded the active fleet by about 3,000 vessels in 1991 when the earlier statistical series was replaced.The Department does not collect statistics on foreign ownership of fishing vessels. The table includes estimates from 1997 onwards of the number of vessels that are considered to be partly or wholly owned by foreign interests, based on advice from local port offices of the Fisheries Departments in the UK.

	Number of active UK fishing vessels			Proportion of over 10 m vessels that were foreign owned
Details as at 1 January	40 ft and under	Over 40ft	Total	Number	Percentage over 10 m
1973	3,961	2,366	6,327	n/a	n/a
1974	4,073	2,505	6,578	n/a	n/a
1975	4,356	2,560	6,916	n/a	n/a
1976	4,158	2,533	6,691	n/a	n/a
1977	4,307	2,433	6,740	n/a	n/a
1978	4,601	2,352	6,953	n/a	n/a
1979	4,732	2,335	7,067	n/a	n/a
1980	4,878	2,364	7,242	n/a	n/a
1981	4,512	2,383	6,895	n/a	n/a
1982	4,970	2,381	7,351	n/a	n/a
1983	4,485	2,312	6,797	n/a	n/a
1984	4,767	2,207	6,974	n/a	n/a
1985	5,433	2,151	7,584	n/a	n/a
1986	5,868	2,052	7,920	n/a	n/a
1987	6,305	1,861	8,166	n/a	n/a
1988	6,251	1,953	8,204	n/a	n/a
1989	6,128	2,004	8,132	n/a	n/a
1990	6,326	1,957	8,283	n/a	n/a

	Number of registered UK fishing vessels			Proportion of over 10 m vessels that were foreign owned1
Details as at 1 January	10 m and under	Over 10 m	Total	Number	Percentage over 10 m
1991	7,364	3,825	11,189	n/a	n/a
1992	7,538	3,873	11,411	n/a	n/a
1993	7,831	3,730	11,561	n/a	n/a
1994	8,128	3,564	11,692	n/a	n/a
1995	7,607	3,220	10,827	n/a	n/a
1996	6,757	2,963	9,720	n/a	n/a
1997	6,091	2,576	8,667	162	6.3
1998	6,022	2,436	8,458	152	6.2
1999	6,027	2,244	8,271	141	6.3
2000	5,916	2,123	8,039	124	5.8
2001	5,769	2,049	7,818	116	5.7
2002	5,713	2,008	7,721	119	5.9
2003 (provisional)	5,847	1,808	7,655	121	6.7

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on areas of linkage made during the CFP derogation negotiations between obtaining the support of other member states and the United Kingdom supporting measures in other areas. [112502]

The outcome on the package of fishery measures at the Council of Ministers in December 2002 was negotiated by the UK with reference only to the fisheries matters that were under consideration.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made in dedicating Forestry Commission land for permanent public access. [112361]

The Forestry Commission has not yet dedicated any of its land as the dedication regulations are not yet in place. These regulations are expected to be finalised by the autumn.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment she has made of the economic impact on the dairy industry of a delay in deciding the base year for milk quota; and if she will make a statement; [112206](2) when she expects to reach a decision with her European partners on the base year for milk quota; and if she will make a statement. [112207]

Under the current CAP reform proposals, published on 22 January, eligibility for the dairy premium, which is planned as compensation for the price cuts, would be based on quota held on 31 March 2004. We, and some other member states, have expressed concern that the current proposal to base eligibility on quota held at a date in the future has already given rise to speculation on the quota market. We have suggested that it should instead be based on quota held on 31 March 2003, and confined to active producers as at 31 March 2004.No formal assessment has been made of the economic impact on the dairy industry, including the effects of quota speculation, of any delay in coming to a decision on the eligibility criteria for the premium. This would in any case be very difficult to determine, as its effect would vary enormously according to producers' individual circumstances.The earliest that a formal agreement will be reached on the dairy premium, along with the rest of the CAP reform package, will be the meeting of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers on 11 and 12 June 2003.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure 100 per cent. of the solvent waste stream from the dry-cleaning industry is recycled. [112390]

None. The nature of dry cleaning operations makes it difficult to capture 100 per cent. of the various solvent waste streams for recycling. The Solvent Emissions Directive (1999/13/EC) which aims at reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents from certain activities and installations, including dry cleaning operations, does not include specific requirements to ensure that a certain amount of the solvent waste stream should be recycled. Instead it controls releases from the operation of the dry cleaning process as a whole by controlling the maximum amount of solvent that can be emitted per unit mass of cleaned garments, that is emissions of waste gases and fugitive emissions to air, soil and water and solvents contained in any products.We intend to consult separately on proposals to include requirements on the operators to ensure that waste contaminated with solvents are recycled or disposed of by waste licensed contracts. This will be in line with existing waste management regimes. There are incentives within these proposals to encourage recovery of any residual solvent contained within the waste from dry cleaning operations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to apply the proposals in the "Justice for All" White Paper to domestic violence in the armed forces. [113036]

The Ministry of Defence is given to understand that the Domestic Violence Unit at the Home Office is to issue a consultation paper arising from the "Justice for All" White Paper as part of a cross cutting review and I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence will participate in the consultation process. Any subsequent changes to laws applying to incidents of domestic violence would apply to the service community in the same way as to other sections of the population.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance he has given to the armed forces on the reporting of domestic violence; and what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on the content of such guidance. [113037]

The Ministry of Defence's latest guidance on the reporting of incidents of domestic violence within the Armed Forces was published in a "Defence Council Instruction" on 1 February 2002 and is being incorporated into appropriate single-service regulations. The policy takes account of Home Office directives on the subject and with the underlying principle that domestic violence by Service personnel is not to be tolerated under any circumstances. MOD Ministers have not had cause to discuss this policy with other ministerial colleagues.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2003, Official Report, column 445W, on armed forces accommodation, if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidelines relating to the 4-tier grading system. [112669]

Yes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress has been made in identifying the causes of death of (a) Sapper Luke Allsopp and (b) Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth; and if he will make a statement. [112486]

The investigation into the deaths of Sapper Allsopp and Staff Sergeant Cullingworth is still ongoing and it is not yet possible to predict when it is likely to finish. It would, therefore, be inappropriate for me to comment further at this stage.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) changes have been made and (b) guidance has been issued by the Director General of Service Personnel Policy on bringing law and policy relating to under-18s into line with UK obligations under (i) the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and (ii) other international guidelines. [112629]

Our existing policy and procedures for recruitment were already in line with our obligations. We have a policy to ensure that no under 18s are deployed on UN peacekeeping operations and no under 18s carry out operational patrols in Northern Ireland, and last year we introduced a policy whereby no under 18 soldiers may be deployed on operations outside the United Kingdom unless they are of a purely humanitarian nature and no hostile forces are involved.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures exist to control the onward sale to third countries of (a) RBL 755 and (b) BL 755 cluster bombs originally exported from the United Kingdom. [112482]

I have been asked to reply.The risk of strategically controlled goods being diverted to a third country is considered at the time of application for a licence, when this possibility is considered against Criterion 7 of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. Criterion 7 addresses the existence of a risk that the equipment will be diverted within the buyer country or re-exported under undesirable conditions and includes consideration of the capability of the recipient country to exert effective export controls. The Government may draw upon information from a wide variety of sources when considering the risk.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what categories of items have been reported (a) stolen and (b) lost at Deepcut Army barracks in each of the past 10 years; and how many rounds of (i) ammunition and (ii) weapon parts were missing in each year. [112633]

In accordance with Service accounting procedures, records of items stolen or lost have been retained for the past five years only. The categories of military stores involved in incidents of theft or loss at Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut during this period are as follows.

	Year	Category
Stolen	1998	Miscellaneous Stores
	2002	Equipment, Miscellaneous Stores
	2003	Miscellaneous Stores
Lost	1998	Accommodation Stores, Equipment, Miscellaneous Stores
	1999	Accommodation Stores, Equipment, Rations, Miscellaneous Stores, Clothing
	2000	Accommodation Stores, Equipment, Miscellaneous Stores, Clothing
	2001	Accommodation Stores, Equipment, Miscellaneous Stores
	2002	Accommodation Stores, Equipment, Rations, Miscellaneous Stores, Clothing

Over the past five years, two small weapons parts have been found to be missing. There have been no recorded incidents of lost or missing ammunition rounds since 29 September 2002. Records prior to this period are currently in the possession of Surrey police and are unavailable for examination.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims have been made against insurance for personally issued kit at Deepcut Army barracks in each of the past 10 years. [112634]

The Ministry of Defence does not insure itself against the loss or theft or personally issued military kit. Any private claim would be a matter between an individual and his or her insurer.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many fires have been recorded at Deepcut Army barracks in the past 10 years; and in how many cases civilian firefighters have been called to assist. [112635]

Records are only available from June 1997. Since that time there have been eight separate fire incidents within the perimeter of the Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut. On each occasion the local civilian fire service was called to assist.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to ensure that service personnel on operations can vote in elections. [112655]

The Representation of the People Act 2000 and the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001 presented Service personnel with a range of electoral registration options. They may register to vote at their private or other qualifying address, Service Families Accommodation or Single Living Accommodation, or register to vote by means of a Service declaration, or by rolling registration. A fresh Service declaration must be made every 12 months and, together with all households in the United Kingdom, all Service Voters will receive an annual renewal notification from the local Electoral Registration Officer with whom they are registered. The Ministry of Defence issues annual Defence Council Instructions explaining these measures in detail. The last was issued on 31 January 2003. Those overseas who are registered as Service Voters can only vote by proxy. Those in the United Kingdom who are unable to vote in person may vote by either post or proxy. Those individuals who choose to register on an electoral register—and who are not registered as Service Voters through a Service declaration—will be able to vote either by post or proxy if they are overseas or away from home during an election. If personnel are overseas, every effort is made by ships, units, and stations to give reasonable assistance to personnel to register or vote in line with their electoral registration choice.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who the chief executive officer is of the (a) Defence Diversification Agency, (b) Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and (c) Veterans Agency. [112701]

The Director General of the Defence Diversification Agency is Professor Damien G. McDonnell BSc PhD DSc CPhys FinstP QBE. He does not have the title chief executive since the Defence Diversification Agency is part of the Ministry of Defence head office and not a Defence agency.The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) no longer exists. On 1 July 2001, two new organisations, QinetiQ pic and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, a trading fund, were formed from DERA. The chief executive officer of QinetiQ is Sir John Chisholm MA FR Eng, and the chief executive of DSTL is Mr. Martin Earwicker.The chief executive of the Veterans Agency is Mr. Alan Burnham.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many graduate scientists were recruited by the Nuclear Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in each of the last three years; and how many additional graduate scientists will be recruited during 2003–04. [112825]

The following figures show the number of science graduates recruited at the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

	Science graduates
2000–01	39
2001–02	38
2002–03	43

The expected recruitment figure for 2003–04 is 50.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the two Gurkha reinforcement companies. [112651]

Both of the remaining Gurkha Reinforcement Companies are due to be disbanded, the first by July this year and the second by March 2004.Improved infantry manning levels mean that the requirement for the Gurkha Reinforcement Companies has reduced. Notwithstanding this we intend to maintain Gurkha force levels at around 3,500 and plan to create two additional permanent Gurkha sub-units.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what latest estimate he has of the death toll from current hostilities in Iraq among (a) UK forces, (b) US forces, (c) Iraqi forces, (d) Iraqi civilians and (e) other civilian non-combatants. [110267]

As of 6 May, 34 United Kingdom Service personnel had died during coalition military operations against Iraq.The number of fatalities suffered by US forces is a matter for the US authorities.We make every effort to minimise any impact on the Iraqi civilian population. We have no means of ascertaining the numbers of Iraqi military personnel or civilians, or other civilians who were killed or injured during the coalition's military action.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what efforts his Department is making to assure the employers of TA soldiers serving in Iraq that their employees will return at the earliest opportunity. [112649]

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence stated on 30 April 2003, Official Report, columns 15–16WS, we will continue to withdraw assets and personnel from the region where possible, but we will maintain an appropriate military presence for as long as is necessary. The requirement for Reservists will match this pattern. Where possible, Regional Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations (RFCAs), in concert with the Regional Brigade Chain of Command, have kept local employers of TA and Regular Army Reservists informed of the situation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will ensure that reservists on duty in Iraq are kept informed by their commanding officers of how long they will be required to remain in Iraq. [112877]

On mobilisation, reservists are informed of the likely length of their mobilised service. This is usually 6 months in theatre plus a further 1½ months made up of pre-deployment training and post-deployment admin and leave (a total of 7½ months). Should there be any changes to the period of mobilised service, reservists would be informed by their commanding officer as a matter of course.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK civilians have been deployed in Iraq by his Department since the end of the war; from what department of government they have been drawn; and what the expected (a) cost and (b) length of their deployment is. [113236]

[holding answer 13 May 2003]: The number of Ministry of Defence civilian personnel deployed into theatre is in excess of 180. Of those personnel, the number deployed into Iraq varies daily, but is in the order of 12. In addition, some 50 civilians from other Government Departments have deployed, or are deploying into Iraq with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. The Coalition, including civilian personnel, will stay in Iraq only as long as is necessary to help the Iraqi people to build their own political institutions and reconstruct their country. It is too early to predict how long this is likely to take and therefore, how much the deployment of United Kingdom civilians to Iraq will cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of the Royal Military Police Training School and the Roussillon Barracks in Chichester. [112913]

I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces' Written Ministerial Statement on 25 November 2002, Official Report, columns 1–2WS. RAF Halton was identified by the 'Defence Training Review as the benchmark location for Joint Police Training. This benchmark assumes that the RMP training would be moved to RAF Halton and that other units at Roussillon Barracks would also be relocated. We do not expect to make a final decision on the location for police training and the eventual use or disposal of Roussillon Barracks before 2005.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for commemorating the 60th anniversaries of major naval campaigns and events in the Second World War. [112267]

During the first few years of this century, to 2005, there was and will be a succession of 60th anniversaries of significant actions in the Second World War. It is not possible for the Ministry of Defence to mark all of them and so it was decided that the Department would fund a commemoration of one representative battle for each of the Services, with a triService commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of the War. The actions chosen by the Services were the Battle of the Atlantic for the Royal Navy, the Battle of El Alamein for the Army and the Battle of Britain for the Royal Air Force.The Battle of Britain was commemorated by the Royal Air Force in 2000. The Army organised a Service of Thanksgiving on 23 October 2002 in Westminster Abbey to mark the Battle of El Alamein and the Royal Navy have just organised an event in Liverpool to mark the Battle of the Atlantic.The Government will also be organising events in 2005 to mark the end of the war, but planning is at an early stage and no details are available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes there have been in recruitment rates for (a) the Royal Navy and (b) the Royal Marines since the outbreak of the Gulf conflict. [112268]

It is too early to gauge whether the Gulf conflict has had an impact on recruitment to the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines since the process can take a number of months from enquiry to entrance and any knock-on effect would not be evident until later in the year. No candidates have withdrawn enquiries or cancelled interviews as a stated consequence of the conflict and the flow of expressions of interest remains high.The number of enquiries and subsequent applications to join the Service as Naval ratings and Royal Marines other ranks shows an increase of between 8 per cent. and 10 per cent. respectively on the same period for last year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have (a) enrolled on and (b) completed an Open University course in the past 12 months. [112624]

The best estimates available are that, for financial year 2002–03, 161 RN, 110 Army and 1,477 RAF personnel registered to undertake Open University courses. Accurate figures for enrolment are not available as personnel who elect for personal reasons to undertake an OU course are under no obligation to tell the OU that they are Servicemen or women, or to report to their Service managers that they have commenced a course of learning with the OU.In addition, 21 RN, 18 Army and 76 RAF personnel were registered for OU degree courses during the last 12 months under existing sponsorship schemes.Figures for course completion are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the sub-committee chaired by General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank to report regarding the issue of a Suez Canal Zone medal; and if he will make a statement. [112764]

The HD Committee has seen the report submitted by General Lord Guthrie on behalf of the sub-committee. They have not indicated when an announcement will be made.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what determination has been made by the Director General of the Training and Education Rationalisation Delivery Group of the appropriate instructor to trainee ratios, including pastoral care and supervisory duties, in each service. [112617]

There are two aspects of instructor to trainee ratios: formal training class size and pastoral care out of working hours. The requirement for supervision varies accordingly. The Ministry of Defence does not currently recommend precise supervisory ratios, but work is in hand to develop policy guidance for Commanding Officers of training establishments.